Hope by Megan Rees (best e reader for academics txt) 📕

said, gathering the others with a whistle. With the tissue wrapped round her wrist, Hope followed the other Captain back to the camp.

In the Healer's cave, Hope sat down on a blanket, a bandage wrapped around her wrist and hand. Jade had noticed that some of the teeth had reached Hope's hand, so she decided to bandage that up too.
"I'll be like one of those Egyptian mummies with all the bandages wrapped round me." Hope joked.
"I don't think you're that bad." Jade told her with a smile. "Just be careful!"
Rising up to her feet, Hope bidded farewell to Jade and left the cave. The sun was rising up higher now, meaning pretty much everyone was awake. Glory was talking to Sasha and Russel, while some of the others had gone out foraging for food. Hope tried to find Raven in the clearing, but he was nowhere to be found, giving Hope the suspicsion that he'd gone out foraging.
"There you are!" Dew cried out, flying over to Hope. "I was waiting for you! How is your wrist?"
"Fine." Hope told her. "I'm completely fine." Chapter 3

"Hope! Get the hell out here now!"

Poking her head out of her treehouse, Hope spotted Heather with her arm around Sasha, who was clutching her side. Hope swiftly scrambled down the tree within a few moments and stood beside the trembling young girl. "What happened?" She asked calmly.

"Sasha got stabbed while we were out foraging." Heather replied. "She claims to have seen your brother."

"She saw Nat?" Hope gave the older girl a disbeliving look. "That's impossible! He's been dead since time stopped!"

"Anything's possible." Heather argued. "With all these strange happenings, seeing ghosts is very likely." She started to lead Sasha away, adding "Stop denying in what you believe."

Nat had been 16 years old when the battle broke for the river broke out. This famous battle had been the exact one that had caused time to stop all those years ago. Nat had been stabbed in the back while trying to flee from the other Tribe. Despite Hope's best efforts to save him, her brother eventually died of blood loss. This death had angered The Light, causing them to stop everyone from aging.

The Light favours no one. Nat didn't believe in them, claiming it was all a stupid fairytale to get you excited about dying. How could he still be alive?

As Hope gave the idea some thought, a group of foragers returned, carrying with them a strange fruit. The white girl approached the party with a suspicious glance at Winter, who was leading them. "What is that?"

"Glory found it." Winter told her with a smile. "Isn't it great?"

"You didn't answer my question." Hope grumbled. "What is that?"

"We didn't think of a name for it, but it's delicious!" Winter exclaimed brightly. "Glory saw an odd-looking tree on the edge of the boundary and we found these strange things that looked like melons, but they were bright green and had this yummy pale green stuff inside it!"

"You went to the edge of the boundary for that?" Hope could feel her blood boiling inside her. "You should know that Eski has forbidden us to the very edge of the boundary! We don't know what's out there!"

"The need is too great." Silver, Winter's companion, pointed out. "Our territory doesn't have enough food. We had to go to the boundary's edge because we're all so desperate. Why can't you see past the rules and realise that what they've found is a major breakthrough for the Tribe?"

Hope was silenced for a while, stunned by the wolf's comeback. The foraging group left her, giving cold stares to the Captain. She didn't respond to them with anything, she just hung her head.

Once the party had disappeared with the fruit, Hope strolled over to her tree and climbed up it, wanting to escape everyone. Dew was perched on the roof of Hope's treehouse, watching the Tribe thrive. She'd been doing that for most of the day.

Eventually, Hope scampered into her treehouse and flopped onto her bed, her head hitting the pillow instantly. She fumbled under the pillow and found the little stuffed dove her mother had given her. She sat up and inspected it. Like Dew, the dove was pure white with beady black eyes, apart from the eyes were small buttons and this dove wasn't real. According to her mother, Hope had called the toy 'Dovey', yet despite the fact Hope couldn't remember it, she still called it Dovey.

Craddling the white toy in her arms, Hope pressed it against her face, making Dovey's soft orange beak peck her cheek. A tear trickled down from Hope's eye onto Dovey as thoughts of her mother flew into her head. She remembered her mother so well, yet she didn't know her as long as other parents.

"It's just us now." Hope murmured to Dovey. "Me and Glory. We're the last ones left."

Resting her head against the pillow, Hope closed her eyes and drifted into sleep, Dovey still pressed against her face.

 

There was strange people everywhere. I reconised Mrs Ladly, the nosey old lady who lived nextdoor to us. The others I'd never seen before. It was just so loud.

I was oblivious to the time, maybe because I'd been dragged out of bed and out in the front garden. I knew it was night, because the sky was dark and there were stars shining in the sky like diamonds.

There were four of us; Nat, my brother, Glory, my sister, my mother Layla, and me. We'd lived in our dear house, which had been left to us in my grandmother's will. I had no idea what that meant, but I guessed our grandmother gave us a leaving present, because she hasn't been to visit us for ages.

A tall man in a strange uniform approached me, Glory in his arms. She was only three years old, four years younger than me. Mother had me and Nat with the same father, while Glory had a different dad who I didn't see much of, because he was always in Mother's room or out elsewhere. My Father died when I was two.

"This is your sister, I believe?" The strange man asked me. "My men found her in her room. Her bedroom door was out of reach, so we got in through the window."

"What is happening?" I asked, taking Glory from him. "Why is our home alight? Where is my Mother?"

"We're still trying to find out why your house is burning, and we're still looking for Mummy." The man soothed me in a calm manner, treating me like a baby. "I'm sure she's just hiding somewhere."

I was relieved when the man walked away. For some reason, I didn't trust him.

"It's okay, Hope." Nat comforted me. He was nine years old and the best brother I could hope for. "Mother will be fine, honest."

We waited for ages. Various strangers from our town offered us treats and sat with us, but it didn't really help much with a bunch of strangers crowding round us. I sat on the grass with a blanket wrapped round me, picking at the grass.

I then started watching some of the strange men, who were talking in serious, hushed voices. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but they were shaking their heads and staring at us symaptheticly. That annoyed me, because I didn't need anyone's sympathy.

"Where's Mama?" Glory howled, bawling her eyes out. I tried to shush her, but it didn't work. Mrs Temple, one of Mother's friends, came over to me. "Would you like me to take Glory for you?"

"Thank you." I murmured, passing Glory to the young woman, who craddled her gently. Nat put his arm around me as one of the strange men came over. He was shaking his head and sighing.

"Where's Mother?" I demanded. "You all told me that she was hiding!"

"Yes, well, we found your Mother." The man told me. "We got to her, but it was too late. I'm sorry."

"She's gone?" Nat echoed, his voice shaking. The man nodded and took off his hat. "I'm so sorry, all of you."

"What will happen to the children?" Mrs Temple asked, her voice mingled with grief. The man turned to her. "We checked their records. All grandparents found are dead, father one is dead and father two is in jail. Their uncle and aunt live on the other side of the world, and neither fathers have siblings. All three of them have no kin suitable to take them on."

"Oh Lord no." Mrs Temple looked deeply distressed. "You're sending them to the orphanage, aren't you?"

I had no idea what an orphanage was, but I didn't like the sound of it. Tears stung my eyes as I gave our house one more glance before being bundled into the back of a police car. I cried all the way there, while Nat had his arm around me the whole time, trying not to cry.

 

Chapter 4

Hope woke up with a start, wiping the tears from her eyes. Raven was sat on a stool beside her bed, his snowy owl companion perched on his shoulder. "I heard you scream earlier, so I came up here to keep an eye on you." He told her. "Are you going to tell me what you were dreaming about?"

"No." Hope mumbled, turning over. "Unless you can erase the past."

"If I had that power, I would have used it long ago." Raven pointed out gently. "I would have put everything back to the way it was, before all of this happened."

Hope let out a muffled sob, which led to Raven going other to the other side and crouching down so his chin was resting on her bed. "I won't go away until you tell me what's bothering you."

After a few moments of silence, Hope eventually gave in. "I had one of those nightmares about Layla again. It was the one when she died."

"It's perfectly normal to be upset about that." Raven comforted her, placing one hand on her shoulder. "But it is also normal to have those closest to you pass away. It is a natural process that happens to everyone. No one lives forever, I'm afraid."

As Raven started to leave, Hope leapt out of bed and flung her arms around him. He was slightly taken back by this, but he hugged her back all the same. For a moment, Hope was quite happy to stand there and listen to the sounds around her without stressing or worrying. Everything was perfect.

"Hope!" Eski cried.